Estonia in World War II

Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II (1939–1945), but the country was repeatedly contested, invaded and occupied, first by the Soviet Union in 1940, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and ultimately reinvaded and reoccupied in 1944 by the Soviet Union.

On September 1, 1939, under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

Germany invaded its part of Poland

September 3, Great Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand .

declare war on Germany

September 14, the Polish submarine reached Tallinn, Estonia.

ORP Orzeł

On September 17, the under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocol.^[16] During this invasion, a close coordination of German and Soviet military activity took place.^[17]^[18]

Soviet Union invaded its part of Poland

September 18, ; the Polish submarine escaped from internment in Tallinn and eventually made her way to the United Kingdom; Estonia's neutrality questioned by the Soviet Union and Germany.

Orzeł incident

World War II began with the invasion of Poland, an important regional ally of Estonia, by Germany. Although some coordination existed between Germany and the USSR early in the war,^[14] the Soviet Union communicated to Nazi Germany its decision to launch its own invasion seventeen days after Germany's invasion, as a result, in part, of the unforeseen rapidity of the Polish military collapse.^[15]

On September 24, 1939, with the fall of Poland to Nazi Germany and the USSR imminent and in light of the Orzeł incident, the Moscow press and radio started violently attacking Estonia as "hostile" to the Soviet Union. Warships of the Red Navy appeared off Estonian ports, and Soviet bombers began a threatening patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside.^[19] Moscow demanded that Estonia allow the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war.^[20] The government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum signing the corresponding agreement on September 28, 1939.

The pact was made for ten years:

There is no consensus in Estonian society about the decisions that the leadership of the Republic of Estonia made at that time.^[5]

When Soviet troops marched into Estonia the guns of both nations gave mutual salutes, and bands played both the Estonian anthem and the Internationale, the anthem of the USSR, at the time.^[21]

Similar demands were forwarded to Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. Finland resisted,^[22] and was attacked by the Soviet Union on November 30.^[23] Because the attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14.^[24] Finland held out in the Winter War until March 1940, when the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed.

The first population loss for Estonia was the repatriation of about 12,000–18,000 Baltic Germans to Germany.^[5]^[25]

(Estonians in Russian armed forces in 1940–1945), Persons mobilized to serve in labour battalions Part 1 (A–L), by the Estonian Memento Union, Tallinn, 2008, ISBN 978-9985991404

Eestlased Vene sõjaväes 1940–1945

(Estonians in Russian armed forces in 1940–1945. Part 2, (M–Sel)), 2009, ISBN 978-9985991428 (pdf)

Vene sõjaväes 1940–1945. Teine osa, (M–Sel)

(Estonians in Russian Armed Forces in 1940–1945 Part 3 (Selmet–Üüde)), by the Estonian Memento Union, Tallinn 2011, ISBN 978-9985991442